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Little Dorrit (Penguin Classics)
 
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Little Dorrit (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Charles Dickens (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Customers buy this book with Dombey and Son (Wordsworth Classics) by Charles Dickens

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Product details

  • Paperback: 1024 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (25 Sep 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141439963
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141439969
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13.7 x 4.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 75,401 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #76 in  Books > Fiction > The Classics > Dickens, Charles

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Product Description

Product Description

When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy's father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr Panks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office. A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity.


About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity was established by the phenomenally successful Pickwick Papers. Stephen Wall is a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Helen Small is a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, 21 May 2008
By M. Dowden (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
From its first publication in book form after the serialisation, Little Dorrit has always proved to be a good seller. So why has this book always been so popular? For whole segments Amy 'Little' Dorrit does not even appear. The novel covers so much more than the title implies.

Little Dorrit is born in the Marshalsea, where her father is imprisoned for debt. Eventually he is released at the end of book one, when he comes into an inheritance. For Mr Dorrit this leads to paranoia that people are talking behind his back or laughing at him due to his former poverty. Poor little Dorrit finds it difficult to change her ways and is still a ministering angel to all and sundry.

What really stands out in this book are the locations, as the story travels from London through France, Switzerland and Italy. This is the most widespread geographically of any of Dickens' novels. Also this book probably has the most sub-plots of any Dickens novel, with mention of murder and smuggling, to actual acts of corruption and suicide, to love, marriages and death. Mrs Clennam tries to keep a family secret buried but is being blackmailed, and is her house haunted or is there a more rational explanation?

As to be expected with Dickens there are some great characters and some good comedy. Anyone who has ever had any dealings with govermental departments can really appreciate the Circumloction Office, and its practices. A few of the illustrations in this book are some of the very best to appear in any of his novels.

This is a must read book, that with so many things going on throughout will keep you absorbed for hours, and that you will want to read again.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good on characterisation poor on plot, 9 Nov 2008
By Mr. T. Harvey "trevorbelmont2" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Warning: this review contains spoilers.

The major strengths of the novel are its characters and atmosphere. Every character is sharply drawn, we can visualise them in our mind's eye; Dickens has the ability to invest each of them with their own distinctive speech patterns. He can also create atmosphere whether it be describing the Marshalsea or the interior of Mrs Clennam's house. He is wonderful at creating a scene, of placing his characters in that scene and exploring the interaction of each.

The weakness of the novel is its plot. It never really gains momentum and there is always a sense of stasis, of things about to develop, but never doing so. We are presented with a series of tableaux and then, suddenly, something happens with no relation to anything that has gone before. Much is left unexplained; we are never told what Doyce's invention actually is, we are given no clue as to the nature of Merdle's financial dealings, his downfall just happens. The Dorrits suddenly become rich halfway through the novel. It dosen't convince.

A warning about this Penguin edition. For some inexplicable reason, American spellings are used throughout (eg 'honor' instead of 'honour'). I am not sure why this has been done and as certain Victorian spellings are also used, it makes even less sense. Some readers may find this annoying and would prefer to read a different edition.

A bonus of the Penguin edition, though, is the inclusion of the original illustrations.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars American spellings, 22 Feb 2009
By Michael Bell (Shipley, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I was a bit put-off by a previous review that claims that this book has been changed to american spellings but went ahead and got it anyway as I thought that the illustrations were worth it (they are). I have found that the book has not been americanised (just opened it at random to page 362 and almost the first word I see is 'endeavour' - english version. It does conntain some olde english spellings, eg trousers is spelt as trowsers (not pants).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
This is a great novel simply teeming with wonderful characthers and institutions fromm Clennam, a decent bloke, William Dorrit, a man who regards himself as immensely... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Aquinas

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing changed in 150 years?
After watching the Little Dorrit episodes on BBC TV I bought this book. And I must say it pleased me even more than the TV series.
The book is a love story, of course. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Klaas.

1.0 out of 5 stars Americanised spellings in an English classic!
Firstly, I love American literature, and find many American classics more accessible than many English classics. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mr. Dj Livesey

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